OBJECTIVEThe automatic generation of planning targets and auxiliary contours have achieved in Eclipse TPS 11.0.

METHODSThe scripting language autohotkey was used to develop a software for automatically generated contours in Eclipse TPS. This software is named Contour Auto Margin (CAM), which is composed of operational functions of contours, script generated visualization and script file operations. RESULTS Ten cases in different cancers have separately selected, in Eclipse TPS 11.0 scripts generated by the software could not only automatically generate contours but also do contour post-processing. For different cancers, there was no difference between automatically generated contours and manually created contours.

CONCLUSIONThe CAM is a user-friendly and powerful software, and can automatically generated contours fast in Eclipse TPS 11.0. With the help of CAM, it greatly save plan preparation time and improve working efficiency of radiation therapy physicists.

Objective:To investigate the effects of sustained low-efficiency hemodialysis combined with hemoperfusion on routine blood indicators and inflammatory factors in patients with sepsis-induced acute kidney injury.Methods:Eighty-six patients with sepsis-induced acute kidney injury who received treatment in Yantai Laiyang Central Hospital from April 2018 to April 2021 were included in this study. They were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, with 43 cases in each group. All patients received conventional supportive treatment. The control group received continuous renal replacement therapy and the observation group received sustained low-efficiency dialysis combined with hemoperfusion. Before and after treatment, routine blood indicators [hemoglobin (Hb), white blood cell (WBC) count, platelet (PLT) count, albumin (Alb)], inflammatory factors [interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), procalcitonin PCT)], renal function indicators [serum creatinine (Scr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN)], The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score, length of hospital stay, and 28-day mortality rate were compared between the two groups.Results:Before treatment, there were no significant differences in Hb, WBC count, PLT count, Alb, IL-6, CRP, TNF-α, PCT, Scr, BUN, and APACHE II score between the two groups ( t = 0.04, 0.95, 0.23, 0.67, 1.54, 0.75, 0.98, 0.23, 1.04, 0.44, 0.07, all P > 0.05). After treatment, serum levels of Hb and Alb in each group were significantly increased compared with those before treatment. After treatment, serum levels of Hb and Alb in the observation group were (105.29 ± 15.80) g/L, (39.25 ± 7.87) g/L, respectively, which were significantly higher than (98.55 ± 12.93) g/L and (33.38 ± 7.29) g/L in the control group ( t = 2.16, 3.58, both P < 0.05). After treatment, WBC count, PLT count, IL-6, CRP, TNF-α, PCT, Scr, and BUN levels, and APACHE II score in each group were significantly decreased compared with those before treatment. After treatment, WBC count, PLT count, IL-6, CRP, TNF-α, PCT, Scr, and BUN levels, and APACHE II score in the observation group were (10.28 ± 1.87) × 10 9/L, (129.32 ± 14.79) × 10 9/L, (59.00 ± 12.77) μg/L, (22.41 ± 5.01) mg/L, (28.41 ± 4.77) μg/L, (18.41 ± 2.78) μg/L, (162.01 ± 21.04) μmol/L, (7.38 ± 1.17) mmol/L, (11.28 ± 3.60) points, respectively, which were significantly lower than (12.32 ± 2.27) × 10 9/L, (137.39 ± 18.30) × 10 9/L, (79.35 ± 14.36) μg/L, (29.31 ± 6.37) mg/L, (34.33 ± 5.38) μg/L, (22.32 ± 3.35) μg/L, (184.06 ± 24.03) μmol/L, (9.87 ± 1.66) mmol/L, (14.65 ± 3.38) points in the control group ( t = 4.54, 2.24, 6.94, 5.58, 5.39, 5.89, 4.52, 8.03, 4.47, all P < 0.05). The length of intensive care unit stay in the observation group was significantly shorter than that in the control group [(11.63 ± 2.18) days vs. (14.07 ± 2.71) days, t = 4.60, P < 0.05]. There was no significant difference in 28-day mortality rate between the two groups ( χ2 = 1.36, P > 0.05). Conclusion:Sustained low-efficiency dialysis combined with hemoperfusion is effective on sepsis-induced acute kidney injury. The combined therapy can improve routine blood indicators, inhibit inflammatory reactions, promote renal function recovery, and decrease the mortality rate to a certain degree.

Objective To analyze the clinical outcomes of early invasive fungal disease(IFD)in patients after allogenetic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(allo-HCST)with metagenomic next-generation sequencing(mNGS).Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients undergoing allo-HCST in our Bone Marrow Transplantation Center between July 2021 and October 2022.These patients experienced one of the following conditions within 100 d after transplantation:① Patients with persistent fever and negative blood culture after empiric antimicrobial therapy for 72 h or longer;② Hyperpyrexia of unknown origin occurred again after effective anti-infection in the past;③ Symptoms in lower respiratory tract associated with lung lesions on CT scan,and empiric anti-infective therapy was ineffective.Peripheral blood or bronchoscopic alveolar lavage fluid were tested with mNGS,and overall survival(OS)and non-relapse mortality(NRM)were analyzed.Results There were 60 patients enrolled in this study.For the peripheral blood samples of 47 cases and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples of 13 cases,mNGS found that 19 cases were negative to pathogens,30 cases were non-fungal positive,and 11 case were fungal positive,including 3 cases of aspergillus,5 cases of mucor,2 cases of Candida tropicalis,and 1 case of Trichosporon asahii.Of the 11 patients with fungal positive,8 achieved complete remission after antifungal therapy according to the mNGS results.The 1-year OS and NRM of the 60 patients were 70.0％(95％CI:64.1％～75.9％)and 20.0％(95％CI:11.9％～32.5％),respectively,while those of the fungal infection patients were 54.5％(95％CI:49.5％～69.5％)and 36.4％(95％ CI:15.5％～70.3％),respectively.No significant differences were seen in 1-year OS(P=0.487)and 1-year NRM(P=0.358)among the negative,fungal infection and non-fungal infection patients,neither OS(P=0.238)and NRM(P=0.154)between the fungal infection and the non-fungal infection patients.Conclusion mNGS can rapidly diagnose the early IFD after allo-HSCT,which is helpful for timely and effective treatment and improves the prognosis of patients.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and prognostic factors of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in patients with secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML) .Methods:In this multicenter, retrospective clinical study, adult patients aged ≥18 years who underwent allo-HSCT for sAML at four centers of the Zhejiang Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Collaborative Group from January 2014 to November 2022 were included, and the efficacy and prognostic factors of allo-HSCT were analyzed.Results:A total of 95 patients were enrolled; 66 (69.5%) had myelodysplastic syndrome-acute myeloid leukemia (MDS-AML) , 4 (4.2%) had MDS/MPN-AML, and 25 (26.3%) had therapy-related AML (tAML) . The 3-year CIR, LFS, and overall survival (OS) rates were 18.6% (95% CI 10.2%-27.0%) , 70.6% (95% CI 60.8%-80.4%) , and 73.3% (95% CI 63.9%-82.7%) , respectively. The 3-year CIRs of the M-AML group (including MDS-AML and MDS/MPN-AML) and the tAML group were 20.0% and 16.4%, respectively ( P=0.430) . The 3-year LFSs were 68.3% and 75.4%, respectively ( P=0.176) . The 3-year OS rates were 69.7% and 75.4%, respectively ( P=0.233) . The 3-year CIRs of the groups with and without TP53 mutations were 60.0% and 13.7%, respectively ( P=0.003) ; the 3-year LFSs were 20.0% and 76.5%, respectively ( P=0.002) ; and the 3-year OS rates were 40.0% and 77.6%, respectively ( P=0.002) . According to European LeukmiaNet 2022 (ELN2022) risk stratification, the 3-year CIRs of patients in the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups were 8.3%, 17.8%, and 22.6%, respectively ( P=0.639) . The three-year LFSs were 91.7%, 69.5%, and 65.6%, respectively ( P=0.268) . The 3-year OS rates were 91.7%, 71.4%, and 70.1%, respectively ( P=0.314) . Multivariate analysis revealed that advanced disease at allo-HSCT and TP53 mutations were independent risk factors for CIR, LFS, and OS. Conclusion:There was no significant difference in the prognosis of patients who underwent allo-HSCT among the MDS-AML, MDS/MPN-AML, and tAML groups. Advanced disease at transplantation and TP53 mutations were poor prognostic factors. ELN2022 risk stratification had limited value for predicting the prognosis of patients with sAML following allo-HSCT.

Objective: To investigate the effect of Δ40p53, an alternative spliced isoform of p53 lacking the N-ter minus, on the pro-apoptotic function of p53. Methods: The wild-type p53 was ectopically expressed in HCT116-p53^-/- (endogenous Δ40p53 expression), HCT116-p53^{+ /+} (wild-type p53) and H1299 (p53-null) cells by adenoviral delivery, while Δ40p53 plasmid were transfected into these cells to overexpress Δ40p53. The levels of Δ40p53 and p53 mRNA were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative PCR. The expression of related proteins was deter mined by Western blotting. The interaction of p53 and Δ40p53 was observed by co-immunoprecipitation assay. Calcein-AM/propidium iodide (PI) staining and flow cytometry were used to detect the apoptotic rate of tested cells in each group. Results: HCT116-p53^-/- cells expressed endogenous Δ40p53 isoform. Neither transcription nor protein expression of wild-type p53 was interfered by the increased expression of Δ40p53. Full length p53 and Δ40p53 could bind to each other. Calcein-AM/PI staining showed that the apoptotic rates of H1299-Control, HCT116-p53^-/- -Control, H1299+ p53, HCT116-p53^-/-+ p53, H1299+ oxaliplatin (Oxa), HCT116-p53^-/-+ Oxa, H1299+ p53+ Oxa and HCT116-p53^-/-+ p53+ Oxa groups were (2.50±0.47)%, (2.40±0.32)%, (5.20±0.58)%, (4.10±0.18)%, (22.40±1.73)%, (19.30±1.11)%, (29.90±1.15)% and (39.30±2.26)%, respectively. It was statistically significant between H1299+ p53+ Oxa and HCT116-p53^-/-+ p53+ Oxa groups (t=3.721, P=0.0205). Moreover, the apoptotic rates of H1299-Control, H1299+ Δ40p53, H1299+ p53, H1299+ p53+ Δ40p53, H1299+ Oxa, H1299+ Δ40p53+ Oxa, H1299+ p53+ Oxa and H1299+ p53+ Δ40p53+ Oxa groups were (2.60±0.35)%, (2.20±0.17)%, (4.80±0.49)%, (4.90±1.10)%, (20.30±1.10)%, (19.60±1.45)%, (27.90±1.39)%, (35.20±1.43)%, respectively. Furthermore, flow cytometry assay showed that the apoptotic rates of above cells were (2.70±0.32)%, (2.20±0.24)%, (4.60±0.48)%, (3.90±0.67)%, (19.30±1.11)%, (17.70±0.66)%, (28.30±2.76)% and (37.50±1.51)%, respectively. H1299+ p53+ Δ40p53+ Oxa cells showed higher cell apoptosis than H1299+ p53+ Oxa cells (t=2.930, P=0.042). Conclusion Δ40p53 isoform can bind to full-length p53, and enhance its pro-apoptotic function in tumor cells.

The back-propagating action potential (bpAP) is crucial for neuronal signal integration and synaptic plasticity in dendritic trees. Its properties (velocity and amplitude) can be affected by dendritic morphology. Due to limited spatial resolution, it has been difficult to explore the specific propagation process of bpAPs along dendrites and examine the influence of dendritic morphology, such as the dendrite diameter and branching pattern, using patch-clamp recording. By taking advantage of Optopatch, an all-optical electrophysiological method, we made detailed recordings of the real-time propagation of bpAPs in dendritic trees. We found that the velocity of bpAPs was not uniform in a single dendrite, and the bpAP velocity differed among distinct dendrites of the same neuron. The velocity of a bpAP was positively correlated with the diameter of the dendrite on which it propagated. In addition, when bpAPs passed through a dendritic branch point, their velocity decreased significantly. Similar to velocity, the amplitude of bpAPs was also positively correlated with dendritic diameter, and the attenuation patterns of bpAPs differed among different dendrites. Simulation results from neuron models with different dendritic morphology corresponded well with the experimental results. These findings indicate that the dendritic diameter and branching pattern significantly influence the properties of bpAPs. The diversity among the bpAPs recorded in different neurons was mainly due to differences in dendritic morphology. These results may inspire the construction of neuronal models to predict the propagation of bpAPs in dendrites with enormous variation in morphology, to further illuminate the role of bpAPs in neuronal communication.
Action Potentials/physiology* ; Dendrites/physiology* ; Neurons/physiology* ; Neuronal Plasticity ; Pyramidal Cells/physiology*